Motor protector



Filed March 17, 1921 May 29, 1923.

q 2 L A22 W Gif' Ver IM/025.

A TTO/Mfy Patented May 29, 1,923.

" Y vUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.V

GROVEB`C. WILLIS, F KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIS-WARNER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 0E KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, A PARTNERSHIP OOMPOSED or enovna c.wI'LL1s AND JOSEPH o. WARNER.

MOTOR PROTECTOR.

To all whom t may/comm:

` Be it known that LGRovER C. WILLIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Motor Protectors; and I do declare the following to be a' full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the'vsame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters. and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification'. l5 This invention relates to any engine proy tector particularly applicable for use in connection Wit-h explosion motors. Y

The invention is primarily intended to be yapplied to an engine ignition system in such manner that the 'currenty for the ignition system will be shortcircuited when the lubricating s stem fails on account of insufficient oil, ailure 'of the pump to. operate or l from any other cause. v p

One of the important. features of my invention is the provision of an oil chamber and a vacuum chamber electrically connected together so that the ignition circuit can be short circuited through both chambers when the oil supply fails. The vacuum or suction chamber has co-operating contacts in it, which will be spaced apart when the engine is 'at rest, thereby breaking the connection for the short and thus enabling the engine to be started to turn it.0ver a sutiicient number of times to pump cil into the oil chamber to separate co-operating contacts therein, after -Which' the suction in the suction chamber will be suiiicient to cause the contacts in the 40 suction chamber to move together, allowing kthe short circuit to be made, through the medium of the contacts in the oil chamber when the oil supply fails.

In the drawings,

gine to which my -lnvention is applied.

Fi 2 is a sectional view through the circuit breaker casing and in short circuitng position, and

Fi 3 is a cross sectional view through the sort oircuiting device fout ofcircuit breaking position.

Referring now tothe drawings by numerals of reference:

4Application led March 17, 1921. Serial No. 453,043.

Fig. 1 is a-'side elevational View of an en 2 an oil pump, 3

v1 designates an engine,

lead to an indicator an -oil pipe which ma on the'dash board an back to the engine in 'l the nsual way, and 4 a cylindrical casing of a short circuiting device. The casing consists of a. barrel having removable heads 5 and 6 which maybe screwed into the ends of the barrel against the shoulders 7 and 8 respectively to hold the diaphragms 9 and 10 in place.

Between the diaphragms 9 and 10 is a lateral partition 11, dividin the barrel 4 into an upper chamber 12 an a lower chamber 13. The partition 11 is provided with a central opening, throu h which projects a metal post 14, having a ead 15 at one end and secured in place by a nut 16 at the other,

the post being insulated from the partition 11 by an insulating sleeve "17 ,Y best seen -in Figs.2and3. f

The lower end of the post extends "a slight distance beyond the nut 16 and constitutes a guide for an insulating sleeve 18, preferablv of rubber,which bears against the headed disk 19, fast to the diaphragm 10. There is a spring 20 within the insulating sleeve 18. one end olf-Which bears against the end of an insulating disk 21 resting against the end of the post 14 and the other end ofwhich bears against the disk 19 so that the .diaphragm l0 is normally urged upon its seat or`against the head 6 so that Athe-metal contact ring .22, carried by the upper'end of the A sleeve 18, will normally be held out of con-- tact With the nut 16.

The' chamber 13 is provided with a constricted outlet orifice 23, which is connected to the intake manifold 24 of the engine 1 by a tubular connection 25. The chamber 12 is provided with an inlet orifice v26, connectedk to the-oil pipe 3 by a pipe 27. The diaphragm 9 is provided with a contact 28 in line with the head 15 on the post 14 and said diaphragm also is provided with a guide lug 29, around which is coiled a spring`30 one end of which bears against the end ot the recessed portion 31 onthe head 5`and the other end of which bears against the diaphragm 9 so that the diaphragm will be normally urged against the head 15.

The contact' ring 22 is electrically connected to a binding post 32, through the medium of the conductor 33 within the chamber 13. The binding posit is connectedl l' l I to the.` source of electric supply, such as a iicient number of times "to destroy itself or magneto or battery through the medium of theshort circuiting conductor` 34. The barrel 4'is grounded with the engine so that a circuit can be made through it to short circuit the spark plugs 35.

Assuming all of the parts to be assembled and the engine turned over, the pump 2 will vvbe effective to force oil through the pipe 3 in the usual mannen In doing this, part of the oil will be forced through the pipe 27 to fill up the chamber 12, forcing the contact plate 28 away from the head 15 of the post 14. The orifice 26 is slightly larger than the Iorifice 23; therefore, the oil will be admitted to the chamber 12 to break contact between 28 and 15 before the suction 1n the intake manifold 24 is sufficient to create a vacuum in chamber 13.

When the initial separating movement between 15 and 28 takes place, the diaphragm 10 will be on its seat so that the ring 22 will be out of contact with the nut 16. After the chamber 12 has become filledv with oil,

the suction .created in the intake manifold 24 through the pipe 25 will exhaust the air from the chamber 13, raising the diaphragm 10, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the ring 23 will be in contact with nut 16 and the engine will then operate in the usual way. Suppose, however, that the oil supply becomes exhausted from any cause, for eX- ample, because there is not sucient lubrieating oil or because the pump becomes ineffective to maintain the circulation through pipe 3. Then the spring 30 will preponderateV in pressure over the oil pressure in chamber 12, so that 28 and 15 will lcontact. Since the engine is still turning over and maintaining a partial vacuum in 13 to hold the diaphragm 10 up, as Kshown inv Fig. 3, thel contact ring 22 will be in contact with nut 16. Therefore, a complete circuit will be formed from the source ofgeneration, such as a magneto or battery, through 34, binding post 32, conductor 33, ring 22, nut 16, post 14. head 15` contact 28, diaphragm 9, casing of barrel 4, engine to which it is grounded, and back to the source of generation. The short circuit thus formed will prevent current from being supplied to the spark plugs. Therefore the engine will die down on account of failure of ignition circuit. The engine cannot be caused to functlon then until the lubricating system has been replenished .with suiicient oil to allow pressure to be built up in the chamber 12 iig' raise the diaphragm 9 from contact head It will be apparent from the foregoing that as -soon as the lubricating oil system fails, the ignition system for the spark plugs will immediately fail on account-of short circuiting and. that the engine will be stopped before it can be turned over a sufcause deterioration for want of lubrication.

It will be clear from the foregoing that when the engine is operating and the oil supply is adequate, the contacts in the oil chamber will be separated, the partial vacuum in the'vacuumrchamber at this time being sufficient to raise the diaphragm 10 and connect the ring'conductor 22 to the nut 16 where it will remain. during the entire operation of the engine so that the only. break in the short circuit conductor will be at the spaces between the contacts in the oil chamber. Then if theloil supply fails and the contacts in the oil chamber come together, the circuit will be grounded and the spark plugs can receive no current. When theengine dies down or comes to a state of rest, the partial Vacuum in the vacuum. chamber 13 will be. destroyed so the diaphragm 10 willdrop and separate the contacts 22v and 16; therefore, the short circuit will be broken. y

This is important because it enables the engine to be operated upon the introduction of the requisite amount of oil in the lubricating system by reason of the fact that when the engine is cranked, the current can4 not bridge the gap between the ring 22 and the nut 16 and consequently, current will be supplied to the spark plugs and the,en gine can turn over a suicient number of turnsv to pump oil into the oil chamber 12 4of the device to separate the contacts therein and immediately thereafter, there will be a sucient partial vacuum created in cham` berf13 to bring the ring 22 into contact with 16 so that when the oil supply fails, the contacts in chamber 12 will come together and short the circuit. I

Attention is also called to the fact that when the contacts in chamber 12 are Itogether so that the ignition circuit is shorted and the engine comes to a state of rest on account of the failure of the ignition system to properly function and Ythe partial vacuum in chamber 13 is destroyed so that the ring 22 drops away from 16, it is still possible to turn over the engine and start it up, even though the contacts in the oil chamber areitogether. The engine will contmue to function, however, only long enough tocreate a partial vacuum in chamher 13, suiicient to actuate the diaphragm 10 and to bring members 22 and 16 together, when the ignition circuit will (again be shorted, causing the engine to fail tofunction before it has operated long enough to cause enough heat to be generated to affeet it.

Therefore, it will be clear that an engine protector` is provided which will adequately safe-guardA the engine against being operated deliberately or accidentally while there is not suiiicient lubricating oil to supply the lubrication.

' What I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. In 'a device of the class described, a closed casing having a vacuum chamber and an oil chamber, a contact-carrying diaphragm in the oil chamber, a contact post aving one end in the oil chamber and the other in the vacuum chamber, a contactcarrying diaphragm in the vacuum chamber to be moved into functional yposition to contact its contact with the post when a vacuum is created in the vacuum chamber, a binding post in the wall of the casing, and a connection between the contact in the vacuum chamber and the post.

2. A device of the class described comprising Aacasing divided into an oil chamber and a vacuum chamber, a diaphragm having an electrical contact in the oil chamber, a conductor extending through the oil chamber and into the vacuum chamber, the diaphragm normall being separated from the conductor by oi pressure, a diaphragm in the vacuum chamber having a contact to move against the conductor when a vacuum is created in the vacuum chamber, a binding post in the casing, and an electric connection in the vacuum chamber between the binding post and the contact therein.

3. A device of the class described comprising ya casing divided into a vacuum chamber and an oil chamber, an electric lconductor electrically connecting the two chambers, a pressure responsive electric contact in the oil chamber, a vacuum responsive contact in the vacuum chamber, and an electric connection between the last named contact and the casing.

. device of the class described comprismg a casing divided into an oil chamber and a vacuum chamber, an electric conductor electrically connecting the two chambers, a yielding contact having an inherent tendency to move into contact with the conductor but normall held awa by oil pressure in'tiie oil cham er, an electriccontact normally urged away from the conductor but movable ,into engagement,

therewith in response to suction within the vacuum chamber, and means for electrically connecting the casing and the contact in the vacuum chamber.

5. A. ydevice of the class described comprising a casing consisting of a barrel havthere from ing an intermediate partition dividing'thc barrel into an oil charni r and a vacuum chamber, a diaphragm in the oil flamber, a contact carried thereby, an electric conductor connecting the oil chamber with the vacuum chamber, a spring normally urging the diaphragm toward the conductor, said u diaphragm being normally held away therefrom by oil pressure supplied through an inlet port in the oil chamber, a diaphragm in the vacuum chamber, a contact carried thereby adapted to contact with the conductor, a spring normally urging the last named diaphragm away from the conductor to separate the contact therefrom', said contact in the vacuum chamber being movable into engagement with the conductor in response to suction in the vacuumchamber through an outlet port therein, and an electric connection between the barrel and the contact in the vacuum chamber.

6. A device of the class described comprising a casing divided into a vacuum chamber and a pressurechamber, a con-` ductor electrically connecting the two chambers, a pressure responsive, electric contact in the pressure chamber normally out of contact with the conductor when a given pressure is in the pressure chamber, and a vacuum responsive contact in the vacuum comprising a casing having an oil preurel chamber and a vacuum chamber, an ignition short-circuitin chamber, circuit breaking means in the vacuum chamber, means operable by a vacuum for closing the circuit breaking means, and means operable by the oil pressure for opening the short-circuiting means.

In testimony. whereof I aiiix my signature.

GROVER C. WILLIS.

means in the pressure 

